Marbling - a pleasant addiction

I have always wanted to try traditional marbling, the sort you find on the inside pages old ledgers and dictionaries. I have the instructions and methods ready but have never got round to buying some of the unusual ingredients needed.

In the meantime I've tried commercial marbling kits. Small droplets of marbling ink of varying shades are dropped onto water in a shallow dish. designs are made in these inks by dragging through them with a toothpick or by lowing them.

Paper, laid carefully over the inky surface of the water, picks up the design and a new hobby is born. Paper is a good place to start. Try embossed surfaces, wallpapers, music sheets. Just as good are fabrics - plain or patterned - but you could marble shells, pegs, hollowed eggs and large pebbles. Even your fingernails.

Paper and fabric can be further embellished with stitches and can be used as pictures or motifs on cards. The design possibilities are vast. 

As a tutor I've run marbling workshops for a wide range of people and found that it is universally popular. It's messy too so plastic gloves are recommended.

I used the marbling shown as a writing prompt and as a result it is to be included in a pamphlet of work to be produced by the writing group in question.

Have a go!

marbling demonstration